As the winter solstice marked the beginning of our coldest season, many of the animals that we encounter in the UK are a lot harder to come across. Like humans, the majority of species require warmth, food and water to be healthy and survive. However, our ways of dealing with the challenges that winter brings vary greatly. For example, bats enter a state of hibernation when insect numbers are scarce and will hide in safe and warm places, but for insect larvae like dragonfly nymphs, these winter months are crucial for their growth prior to spring when they emerge as adults. One of the animals that we see far less frequently and are closely associated with the start of spring are bees, but how do they survive through winter and how do their many species differ in survival technique?
With there being a large number of different species of bee in the UK, there’s a lot of variation in how they approach the colder weather. This depends on many variables affected by their life cycles such as diet, interaction with other bees and when their eggs hatch. Bumblebees, the most commonly found bee family in the UK with many different species, will hibernate through winter. As the summer draws to a close, the usually social bumblebees will break up their colonies. The new queen bees produced in the summer and early autumn will mate and then hibernate as individuals. They’ll usually hibernate just a few inches underground or on the ground itself and they’ll re-appear to start new colonies once flowers start to bloom at the beginning of spring. Unfortunately, the majority of bumblebees that made up the large colonies won’t survive the winter.
The other most prominent bee family in the UK is the honey bee. They are similar to the bumblebee in that they live in large colonies with a queen and are excellent pollinators, but they don’t hibernate at all. Pretty much all throughout summer and spring you’ll see honey bees collecting nectar to create honey. Even though humans have taken honey as a delicious source of sugar with many health-benefiting properties, the honey bees absolutely depend on it. As the autumn draws to a close, the colonies will reduce in size. As there are very few flowers to forage from, they will eat the honey to keep themselves going through the winter. As most of their hives are outside, they have to generate their own heat; by tightly surrounding their queen and flapping their wings, they’re able to keep the whole colony and hive warm. This is why they work tirelessly through the warmer weather to create as much food as possible in time for winter.
Despite the differences between bumblebees and honey bees, they equally play a fundamental role in our environment. Their methods of collecting nectar from plants causes the pollination of plants, allowing seeds to germinate and therefore more plants can grow. This is why we take extra care in removing bee hives that are unfortunately in property as we wouldn’t want to damage the population of an already fragile species in any way. While you’re unlikely to discover a hive during the winter months, if you believe you may have an unwanted nest on your property, contact us and we will relocate the nest to a safer spot.
